Tuesday, March 25, 2003
Safari beta testers testing Apple's patience
Apple has conducted quite a bit more beta-testing of Safari than simply releasing versions 48, 51, and 60 to the public. Several other versions have been distributed privately to a small number of hand-picked testers (usually software developers and other dignitaries). More recent private versions have incuded features such as tabbed browsing that for whatever reason, Apple isn't ready to include in the public beta. Perhaps Apple simply wants to flesh these features out further before subjecting them to a larger pool of feedback. Still, numerous surfers have visited this site using Safari versions 54, 62, 64, and 67. And there have seemingly been too many for all of them to be legitimately part of the private testing pool. So it didn't surprise me to read that Apple has decided to stop distributing private betas of Safari altogether.
This doesn't mean that Safari has been cancelled. And it doesn't mean that v.60 is the last version of Safari that the public will see before the final release. It just means that Apple no longer trusts its private beta testers not to pass these limited-release versions around to their friends, or more alarmingly, to post them for download on their own website in a cheap attempt to generate traffic. Part of the problem seems to be that Safari is so darned good already. This is in sharp contrast to the typical beta-test software, which by definition means "imcomplete/unpredictable" and usually carries the connotation of "don't install this if you use your computer for anything important, or if you care about the contents of your computer's hard drive".
Safari bears no such resemblance to most of its beta brethren. From the the day it was first released in January, Safari has been significantly faster to load web pages than the de facto standard Internet Explorer. The fact that Safari already has features such as built-in pop-up ad blocking, integrated Google search, and an innovative bookmark management system? That's all just icing on the cake. There are still plenty of websites that don't work properly yet, but that's the idea behind the "bug" button in the toolbar (and the whole point of releasing beta-test versions of software): let Apple know what's not working, so its engineers can correct it before the official release. And the number of malfunctioning sites seems to shrink with each new public beta version. Which is perhaps why so many users have been so eager to get their hands on the newer, private versions. The expectation is that each update will put Safari even further ahead of Explorer, and make its users even happier that they're using a Mac. But it looks like too many Mac users got too greedy, and as a result Apple is scaling back its private Safari releases.
It doesn't affect me either way. I'm brave enough to dive into each public beta version of Safari the day it's released, but not quite brave enough to hunt down non-public versions that are sufficiently experimental enough for Apple to limit their release. Only time will tell when Apple will release another beta to the public. Version 60, the most popular web browser among visitors to this site, was released more than six weeks ago. And maybe that's the most impressive thing about Safari so far: the releases have been so increasingly excellent and so quick to come around, that going six weeks without an update now seems like an eternity.
You might want to check and make sure you've got the latest goods. While in Safari, choose "About Safari" from the Safari menu, and look for "v60". If you see "v48" or "v51", it's time for a new download. In addition, you can check your version number without launching Safari simply by locating it in the Applications folder. If you're in column view, just single-click it and the version info will appear in the next column. Alternately, do a "Get Info" (choose it from the File menu or press Apple-I on the keyboard). Version 60 is denoted as "0.8.2", so if you have "0.8.1" or lower, you're due for an update.
You can download version 60 of Safari public beta here. One little trick: what you're downloading is an entirely new application, not an updater. So if you're using an older version of Safari to download the newer one, you'll want to quit the old version before launching the new one. After making sure the new Safari works properly and has retained all your bookmarks and preferences, throw the old Safari away.
Are you using a version of Safari public beta...or a non-public version? Got something to say about it? Speak now.
Apple has conducted quite a bit more beta-testing of Safari than simply releasing versions 48, 51, and 60 to the public. Several other versions have been distributed privately to a small number of hand-picked testers (usually software developers and other dignitaries). More recent private versions have incuded features such as tabbed browsing that for whatever reason, Apple isn't ready to include in the public beta. Perhaps Apple simply wants to flesh these features out further before subjecting them to a larger pool of feedback. Still, numerous surfers have visited this site using Safari versions 54, 62, 64, and 67. And there have seemingly been too many for all of them to be legitimately part of the private testing pool. So it didn't surprise me to read that Apple has decided to stop distributing private betas of Safari altogether.
This doesn't mean that Safari has been cancelled. And it doesn't mean that v.60 is the last version of Safari that the public will see before the final release. It just means that Apple no longer trusts its private beta testers not to pass these limited-release versions around to their friends, or more alarmingly, to post them for download on their own website in a cheap attempt to generate traffic. Part of the problem seems to be that Safari is so darned good already. This is in sharp contrast to the typical beta-test software, which by definition means "imcomplete/unpredictable" and usually carries the connotation of "don't install this if you use your computer for anything important, or if you care about the contents of your computer's hard drive".
Safari bears no such resemblance to most of its beta brethren. From the the day it was first released in January, Safari has been significantly faster to load web pages than the de facto standard Internet Explorer. The fact that Safari already has features such as built-in pop-up ad blocking, integrated Google search, and an innovative bookmark management system? That's all just icing on the cake. There are still plenty of websites that don't work properly yet, but that's the idea behind the "bug" button in the toolbar (and the whole point of releasing beta-test versions of software): let Apple know what's not working, so its engineers can correct it before the official release. And the number of malfunctioning sites seems to shrink with each new public beta version. Which is perhaps why so many users have been so eager to get their hands on the newer, private versions. The expectation is that each update will put Safari even further ahead of Explorer, and make its users even happier that they're using a Mac. But it looks like too many Mac users got too greedy, and as a result Apple is scaling back its private Safari releases.
It doesn't affect me either way. I'm brave enough to dive into each public beta version of Safari the day it's released, but not quite brave enough to hunt down non-public versions that are sufficiently experimental enough for Apple to limit their release. Only time will tell when Apple will release another beta to the public. Version 60, the most popular web browser among visitors to this site, was released more than six weeks ago. And maybe that's the most impressive thing about Safari so far: the releases have been so increasingly excellent and so quick to come around, that going six weeks without an update now seems like an eternity.
You might want to check and make sure you've got the latest goods. While in Safari, choose "About Safari" from the Safari menu, and look for "v60". If you see "v48" or "v51", it's time for a new download. In addition, you can check your version number without launching Safari simply by locating it in the Applications folder. If you're in column view, just single-click it and the version info will appear in the next column. Alternately, do a "Get Info" (choose it from the File menu or press Apple-I on the keyboard). Version 60 is denoted as "0.8.2", so if you have "0.8.1" or lower, you're due for an update.
You can download version 60 of Safari public beta here. One little trick: what you're downloading is an entirely new application, not an updater. So if you're using an older version of Safari to download the newer one, you'll want to quit the old version before launching the new one. After making sure the new Safari works properly and has retained all your bookmarks and preferences, throw the old Safari away.
Are you using a version of Safari public beta...or a non-public version? Got something to say about it? Speak now.
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